II. Natural Hazards and Climate Change Conference

As a result of the recent perturbations in the climate system, the frequency and magnitude of natural hazards are expected to increase in the near future. The role of the scientific community in this situation is twofold; firstly, we need to develop techniques to monitor and model natural processes that threaten the operations of our society; secondly, we ought to come up with recommendations and solutions to facilitate the mitigation and adaptation of hazards at the least expense possible.

As natural hazards are very complex, the cooperation of specialists is essential to meet the two expectations outlined above. Consequently, ideas need to be shared continuously, and synergies must be identified from time to time. Our society's need for solutions is also resembled by the growing number of funding opportunities related to natural hazards and climate change research. This also calls for exchanging ideas since relevant answers to the problems can only be provided if relevant projects are generated, but for these essential projects, the significant cooperation is needed.

After identifying the recent knowledge exchange and cooperation gaps, we decided to organise a regional workshop and conference at the University of Szeged.